Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
Surveys show that a large majority of Canadians believe governments are driven by wealthy interest groups, especially corporate donors, and that governments regularly act unethically to help their business friends and are not doing enough to stop corruption. Surveys also show that a large majority of Canadians support placing strict limits on the influence of wealthy interests in politics.
I am joining this call for changes to end secret, unlimited donations and loans to political parties and politicians across Canada, and for other key changes to make political finance systems across Canada fully democratic.
We don’t allow hockey players to give donations to referees, so why is this legal in politics? Politicians are the referees who decide what is in the public interest, so it makes no sense at all to allow wealthy interests to buy influence with large donations and gifts to candidates and political parties (including secret donations).
While the passage of federal Bill C-24 in 2004 and Bill C-2 in 2006 helped rein in this influence, several flaws and loopholes in the federal political donations and campaign spending law remain, and must be corrected and closed if the law is to be effective. These loopholes also exist in every province and territory.
Many recent scandals in Canadian politics, in Alberta, in Quebec, and with a federal Cabinet minister for donations and overspending, and with suspicious donations to a federal Conservative riding association in Quebec, have made people realize how loophole-filled and weak the restriction of money in politics is in Canada. As well, Italian police have said that Ontario has a mafia corruption problem in the construction industry even worse than in Quebec.
The nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition made up of 50 citizen groups with a combined total membership of more than 3 million Canadians supports these key changes.
Specifically:
- if not already banned, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations must be banned, and the combined total donation of money, property and services from individuals limited to $100-200 annually per party, to ensure that donations cannot be used to influence politicians or parties, and; disclosure must be required of “volunteer labour” donated to parties and candidates any time, including during nomination races, election and party leadership campaigns, and including disclosure of people who assist with fundraising or volunteer for riding associations, to close this existing secret donations loophole;
- loans to parties, riding associations, nomination race candidates, election candidates and party leadership candidates from corporations, unions and all other types of organizations (including political party and riding association loans to candidates) must be banned, and loans from individuals must be limited to no more than $500, so that loans cannot be used to influence the politicians or parties (loans could be allowed from a public fund, but should be limited to the average annual amount of donations received during the previous two years;
- as federal political party leadership campaign candidates are required to do, all candidates, politicians, parties, riding associations and third parties must be required to disclose publicly all donations, gifts, and the status of any loans, regularly and during the week before election day, so voters know who is bankrolling them;
- disclosure of the identity of each individual donor’s employer must be required (as in the U.S.) and disclosure of each donor’s direct organizational affiliations must also be required (to help ensure that corporations, unions and other organizations are not funneling donations through their employees or board members) and disclosure must also be required of anyone who assists with any fundraising or fundraising event;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited from spending the money they raise in improper ways such as giving grants to community groups or individuals as a way of buying votes;
- riding associations and political parties must be prohibited (as federal election candidates and MPs have been) from having a secret trust fund and from taking secret, unlimited donations into the fund;
- secret, unlimited donations to candidates in all nomination race, election and political party leadership campaigns across Canada must be banned (as they have been banned for federal election candidates);
- the penalty for taking a secret donation of money, property or services, or having a secret trust fund, or violating spending rules, must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment along with a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- a public funding system should be established that matches up to $500,000 ($1 million at the federal level) in annual donations raised by each party, and up to $25,000 raised by any nomination race or election candidate (including an independent candidate), and up to $100,000 raised by any party leadership candidate ($200,000 at the federal level);
- if it does not already exist, annual per-vote public funding of parties should be established, but the annual amount should be maximum $1 per vote received (to ensure that in order to prosper parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and riding associations should be required to receive a fair share of this funding (to decrease the control of party headquarters over riding associations);
- spending limits must be established for political party leadership campaigns to ensure a level playing field for all candidates;
- wherever election dates are fixed every few years, spending by candidates, riding associations, political parties must be limited for a few months before each election day, and in any case limited during the election campaign period;
- as at the federal level, spending on paid advertising during election campaign periods by individuals and interest groups (known as “third parties”) must be limited at a reasonable amount (and if there is a fixed election date, then this spending must also be limited for a few months before the election campaign period);
- individuals and interest groups (corporations, unions, and all other types of organizations) must be required to disclose in a searchable database an accurate estimate of total spending on any public education and advocacy campaign they undertake during an election (before election day), and in between elections;
- social media companies must be required to disclose in real time in a searchable, online public database the identities of anyone or any organization that pays for advertising that relates to a party, candidate or election in the few months leading up to the election, and to disclose the ad that they paid for, and the amount that was spent on the ad, and the election agency must be empowered to order the company to delete the advertisement if it makes any false claim, and to proceed to impose a penalty on the advertiser for the false claim;
- donations by political parties to riding associations and candidates must be limited to decrease the possibility of party headquarters influencing the selection of candidates by riding associations, and to make associations and candidates more independent from party headquarters;
- parties, candidates and riding associations must all be required to disclose all details about their spending to ensure they are not using donors’ money and public subsidies to pay anyone’s personal costs (such as a politician’s defence costs in a court case about their alleged violation of a law);
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to regularly audit all donations, spending by parties, riding associations, candidates and third parties, and voting, and to conduct post-election audits after each general and by-election, with all the results made public, and they must be required to correct problems revealed by the audits.
- election agencies across Canada, or the auditor general in each jurisdiction, must be empowered to review government advertising and to stop or change any ad that is partisan or misleading;
- all penalties for violating donation or spending rules must be increased to minimum $100,000 fine and a multi-year jail term, and loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments;
- all election agencies across Canada must be empowered and required to disclose the rulings they make on all complaints they receive as soon as they make the ruling, and the rulings they make on all investigations they initiate themselves.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
